National Guard training

[Totiwos]

What is typical training like for a brand new National Guard soldier?

[BeefMissile]

National Guard troops in the US go through the exact same training as active duty US Army soldiers. After learning the basic skills of their military occupation; cook, file clerk, truck driver, tank crew member, MP, medic, etc they will return to the Guard unit and serve one weekend a month and 2 weeks of formal training a year. With the current US war on terrorism, many NG troops may be sent to combat areas overseas. For more detailed research read the non fiction book; Spare Parts(a look at a NG unit in combat/Iraq).

;)

[Totiwos]

Thanks. I'm pretty familiar with what happens later, but I wasn't sure about the initial enlistment and training and if it would be fair to stick a character in a basic training situation. I already know about the changing nature of the NG and the impact on society.

[whistlelock]

They train along side the regular army- intermixed. In any given basic company, you'll have platoons full of mixed soldiers- active, reserve, and national gaurd.


And this is not the first time the US has drawn heavily from the National Gaurd to fill out an army for oversea's battles. Do some research into WWI and where a large chunk of the AEF came from.

I've been reading into it lately, for another project of course, and one of the best books I found was by John S.D. Eisenhower. He uses his dad's notes (ol' Dwight D.) and serveral other sources that were directly involved in the early days of the AEF.

[AnconRanger]

spare parts. what a great title.